Friday, November 30, 2012

It was announced today that legendary guitarist Mickey Baker has died. He was busy r&b and jazz session guitarist in New York in 1950s and wrote a jazz guitar instruction book series that influenced a generation or two of players. He is most famous, though, as half of Mickey and Sylvia. Their 1956 hit Love is Strange is truly a classic. Baker's guitar playing is among the best rock/r&b playing ever. Turns out though that much of is borrowed from Jody Williams playing on Billy Stewart's tune "Billie's Blues" on Chess. Chess even sued over the matter, but Williams apparently got no compensation. Another Williams piece ("Lucky Lou") was borrowed by Otis Rush for "All Your Love."

This YouTube Of "Love Is Strange" has some very nice vintage photos. Enjoy.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

David Walters has announced the completion of a major milestone for the Left Opposition Digitization Project for the Marxist Internet Archive:
the complete run of Labor Action, the newspaper of the Workers Party
(U.S.) and Independent Socialist League from 1940 through the Autum of
1958.

Writers for this paper included, among others, Max Shachtman, James
T. Farrell, C.L.R. James, Raya Dunayevskaya, Hal Draper, and Irving
Howe. The 19 years of Labor Action represents approx. 1,000 issues
published, over half of which are full broadsheet in size. Presented in
beautifylly digitaly optimized PDFs, the work was a joint project
between the Riazanov Library Project and the Holt Labor Libary. Walters
says: "We encourage the free and widespread distribution of this
historic archive".

Partners for Progressive Israel strongly endorses the application
of Palestine to be accorded Non-Member Observer State status at the
United Nations and calls on Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to
do so as well.

As a longstanding member of the American Zionist movement and as an
organization that traces its roots to the days of Israel’s creation, we
regard the Palestinian application as a vital step forward towards a
durable, just, comprehensive, negotiated two-state peace, which is the
only way to secure Israel’s existence as a democratic, Jewish-majority
state.

The recent violence between Israel and Hamas-led Gaza has underscored
that any attempt to ignore the Israeli-Palestinian dispute and any
effort to indefinitely maintain the status quo of ‘manageable
Occupation’ and ‘low-intensity conflict’ – as Israel’s current
government seems inclined – is dangerous folly that is certain to exact a
growing price in suffering and death on both sides.
Two Palestinian groups are vying for dominance of the Palestinian
national movement: The Islamist Hamas, which controls Gaza, condones the
targeting of civilians, and does not accept Israel’s fundamental
legitimacy. And the Fatah-led PLO, the internationally recognized
representative of the Palestinian people, whose leader, Mahmoud Abbas,
has endorsed the two-state solution, rejected violence and terrorism,
rejected efforts to delegitimize Israel, and is preparing his people for
the difficult, but necessary, concessions that a peace agreement will
entail.

At this crucial juncture, it is the obligation of the international
community, including Israel’s greatest ally, the United States of
America, to make sure that the strategy of coexistence and moderation is
rewarded, and that the Palestinian people are offered a horizon in
which they are able to realize a viable, contiguous, independent state
alongside Israel not through guns and bombs, but via the tools of
statecraft and diplomacy.

Far from being an act of “diplomatic terror” against Israel (in the
words of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman), the Palestinian
application for Observer State status is entirely consistent with the
two-state approach supported by the international community and by a
majority of Israel’s citizens, and nominally endorsed by Israel’s
current government. In particular, we note that the application:

Prominently refers to UN Resolution 181 (II) of November 1947,
which clearly endorses the existence of an independent “Jewish state” as
part of the partition of Mandatory Palestine. This reference
constitutes an important step towards accommodating Prime Minister
Netanyahu's demand that Israel be recognized as the expression of Jewish
nationhood.

Affirms the State of Palestine’s desire to live, “side by side in peace and security with Israel”.

Acknowledges that the occupation began in 1967, rather than at the time of Israel’s creation.

Emphasizes that the Observer State application is in no way a
substitute for final-status negotiations with Israel, whose “urgent
resumption and acceleration” is called for.

Indicates that mutually agreed adjustments will be made to the 1967
borders in negotiations between the State of Israel and the State of
Palestine.

On November 29, 1947, the Jews of Mandatory Palestine, the yishuv,
rightly celebrated in the streets when the UN General Assembly approved
the partition plan and endorsed the principle of the self-determination
of the Jewish people. Sixty-five years later, we believe it is time
for the UN to fulfill its two-state vision and recognize a state of
Palestine alongside Israel.

We are deeply disturbed by reports of a threatened US cutoff of funds
to Mr. Abbas’ government should he follow through with the application,
as they suggest an American unwillingness to stand by the Palestinian
proponents of a two-state solution. We call on President Obama to swiftly renew his administration’s serious efforts for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

We are similarly dismayed by reports of threatened Israeli punitive
measures – including a withholding of Palestinian tax revenue, massive
settlement construction, annexation of parts of the West Bank, and even the toppling of the Palestinian Authority.

Israel cannot decide who will lead the Palestinian people. But it
can and does pursue policies that add legitimacy and validation to one
side or the other. For four years, Israel’s current government has
taken steps that have strengthened Hamas at the expense of Palestinian
moderates, negotiating with, and making concessions to, Gaza’s hard-line
rulers over prisoner releases and ceasefire terms, while at the same
time spurning meaningful peace talks with Mr. Abbas and undermining his
standing among his people by building thousands of housing units in West
Bank settlements.

We call on Mr. Netanyahu at this critical hour to reverse this
tragically misguided policy. We call on Mr. Netanyahu to publicly
acknowledge that President Abbas is a worthy partner; to engage
constructively with Mr. Abbas in order to achieve a two-state peace
based on the 1967 borders, with agreed, equitable territorial exchanges;
and tolead the chorus of nations that says ‘Yes’ to a State of Palestine at the United Nations, and alongside the State of Israel.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Norm Geras of Normblog has conducted a number of reader polls over the years and I've participated in a fair number. His latest is favorite Westerns and the deadline is the end of November. (To enter, look for Norm's email link in the upper right-hand corner of his blog.

I've put together my list. It doesn't include very many classic Westerns and no Clint Eastwood. On the other hand, it is heavy on what might be called anti-Westerns.

Big Bill Broonzy, Wikipedia tells us "began in the 1920s when he played country blues to mostly black audiences. Through the ‘30s and ‘40s he successfully navigated a transition in style to a more urban blues sound popular with working class Black audiences. In the 1950s a return to his traditional folk-blues roots made him one of the leading figures of the emerging American folk music revival and an international star. His long and varied career marks him as one of the key figures in the development of blues music in the 20th century."

Broonzy was picked to replace Robert Johnson at the legendary 1938 From Spirituals to Swing , but there was no Big Bill craze similar to that for Johnson. Which is a shame because Bronzy was a very important bluesman and made some very great music.
Here's a 1947 performance "Summertime Blues"--not the Eddie Cochran/Who/Blue Cheer rocker. It's very interesting, starting with piano and guitar lines that might been played in the 1930s,then horns enter with lines from swing and jump blues. This was a dominant sound in Chicago and other African-American urban centers. Even the very early Chess Records and Willie Dixon sides were in this vein. Then in 1948, Muddy Waters recorded "I Can't Be Satisfied" and "Rolling Stone" and a blues styles that had been considered out-of-date was again relevant. A preservationist stream keeping country blues alive was created on the white folk circuit, meanwhile Waters went electric and the modern Chicago blues was created.

If you want to learn more about Broonzy, there are over 100 YouTube videos.Bob Riesman has written a highly-regarded biography I Feel So Good: The Life and Times of Big Bill Broonzy
Bob Riesman. which has a very nice website, which includes an appreciation by Pete Townsend, Foreword by Peter Guralnick, multimedia, and other features.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Magic Sam had a short career, dying in 1969 at the age of 32, but among blues afficianados he has a very high reputation. His two albums on Delmark, West Side Soul and Black Magic, are highly regarded. Here's a sample.

Partners for Progressive Israel is deeply dismayed by the killing and
destruction in Israel and the Gaza Strip over these last days, and we
urge all sides to refrain from further escalation and reach a negotiated
cease-fire with all due speed. In the last day, Palestinian rockets
from Gaza have claimed their first three Israeli lives in the latest
round of violence, and the shelling has now reached the Tel Aviv and
Jerusalem areas. Over a dozen Palestinian civilians, including
children, have been killed by Israeli bombing. We mourn the loss of all
innocent life.

As we learned four years ago, massive Israeli military action,
divorced from diplomatic progress, does not deliver long-term results.
Precious human lives are wasted for short-term gains, or no gains at
all. And sometimes the use of force inadvertently creates worse
scenarios, as we have witnessed repeatedly throughout the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

While Israel clearly has the right to, and must, defend itself from
Hamas and the rockets fired from Gaza, Israel has an obligation to use
this right and its overwhelming firepower prudently: to seek negotiation
first to defuse tensions, to respect the lives of innocent
Palestinians, and to recognize that, ultimately, the conflict can be
fully resolved only through diplomacy. Unfortunately, Israel’s current
government has not always fulfilled these basic obligations to its
citizens.

Hamas is an unsavory neighbor which shoulders a very large degree of
responsibility for the current escalation and the ongoing conflict, due
to its unwillingness to accept Israel’s fundamental legitimacy. Yet
Israel has no choice but to find a way to live alongside the Hamas
government for the foreseeable future. Reports that Israel’s government
did not pursue promising third-party efforts to mediate an extended
truce with Hamas are therefore a cause for deep concern.

To quote the group of Israelis living in Sderot and nearby communities who have created the organization, “Another Voice”:

“We call on the Israeli government to immediately launch
negotiations with the Hamas government. Rockets and bombs don’t protect
us. We have tried warfare long enough, and both sides have paid, and
are still paying, a high price of suffering and loss. The time has come
to talk and seek long-term solutions that will allow citizens on both
sides of the border to lead normal lives.”

Above all, at a time when Israel has potential partners in President
Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Palestinian leaders who
are keeping alive the flagging hopes for peace by reaffirming their
commitment to a two-state solution, rejecting violence and terrorism,
and preparing their people for necessary concessions regarding the
‘right of return’, it is unconscionable for the current Israeli
government to continue to rely on military action alone and to resist
ending the occupation.

For the long term, a political solution is the only way out of
violence and despair, and the only hope for the peace which so many
Israelis and Palestinians yearn for and deserve.